L The NATtrEE of the prophetic office as here indicated, a prophet was one who had a vision from the Lord. He was no prophet unless tie could truly preface his address with " Thus saith the Lord." And mu»t there not be something of this kind still? With respect to Divine things, what can any of us say that shall have power and blessing in it unless as we speak of what Gk)d has made us see ? The prophetic office has ceased, but who can doubt that there must be some permanent reality corresponding with it? and therefore we should ever be on the look out for men who have had visions from the Lord. All advances in the interpretation of Scripture truth must come by revelation from on high. Otherwise the most diligent searching ends in nothing but pedantry and verbosity.
II. Notice the depbivation hebe spoken of. What does it mean ? How is it to be looked upon as part of Jerusalem's punitive visitation ? The reply to this is that the institution of prophecy was part of the honour which Jehovah had put upon his people. The people could say that God was constantly raising up amongst them those whom he chose for a medium of communication. However unwilling they might be to listen to the real prophets, and however they persecuted them, still the fact remained that men like Jeremiah were rising again and again. For all we can tell, those whose written prophecies remain may have been a most minute portion numerically of the total company of the prophets. Now, if all at once the prophetic voice ceased or came at long intervals and with few words, this must have been most significant to those who had power to notice. It meant that God had little or nothing to say to the people. That he had communications with every individual willing to put himself in a right attitude there can be no doubt. Prophets who received nothing to give as a message would at the same time receive all they needed for their own edification and comfort, and now there is an abiding vision for all. God's communications to us are not aftei
30 THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. [ch. ii. l.-2a
the "sundry times and divers manners" mode referred to at the begiuning of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Spirit of God revealing the uplifted Christ makes every one of us a prophet to himself. — Y.
Ver. 10. — The silence of the elders. L Thbie fobmeb bfeeoh. They are said to keej silence now; this, of course, suggests that silence had not been their former habir. Old men have a peculiar right to speak, are often expected to speak, and can always plead that years have given them experience and many opportunities of observation, and with respect to these particular elders here it is not difficult to imagine what the topics and the manner of their former speech might be. For instance, imagine younger men going to them and asking what their opinion was as to the predictions of Jeremiah. They would not all have the same opinion, but many, it is to be feared, would make very light of what he said. Nor is it likely that they spoke of him in a very con- siderate way. The elders of Israel were, according to a national custom, largely the teachers of history. It was their business to tell their sous and their son's sons the great things that had been done in the days of old. And we know how easy it is to remember only success and forget disaster. Jeremiah coming in with his denunciations and threatenings would exasperate the elders not least. The chances are that again and again they had given advice at the foundation of which lay their unbelief in Jeremiah. Besides this, they would be advisers in general, and in particular matters would often be right enough. Thus when they cast discredit on a prophet of Jehovah others would take up their words as words of authority and soberness.
IL Thbib present bilenob. They neither speak of their own accord nor do they answer when addressed. They keep silence. It is the silence of grief, humiliation, wounded pride, and shama. The only thing they could say, if they did speak, would be to confess in the amplest manner their sins, their blunders, their egregious self-con- fidence. But in truth their very silence spoke as if with loudest voice. It was as if they said, " We abdicate any right we have had to advise and lead. We admit to the full our responsibility in having done so much to bring disaster on the people." Old age is not necessary to bring wisdom and insight into the problems of life. Jeremiah, who had gone out to prophesy when little better than a lad, was right, and old mtn with an egotistical and absorbed confidence in their own opinions were wrong. If we would avoid being stricken with a shameful silence in our old age, it must be by listening obediently in earlier years to far other voices than those which come from the promptings of the natural man. — ^Y.
Ver. 12. — The suffering of the children. It must be noticed how the mention of the children follows on the mention of the elders. There is suffering at each extreme of life, and hence we are to infer that there is suffering all between. The elders suffer in their way and the children and the sucklings suffer in theirs. The elders are bowed down with confusion, shame, and disappointment. The children know nothing of this, but they are tormented with the pangs of hunger; and what a pathetic touch is that which represents them as breathing out their little lives into the bosom of their mothers I The sins of the parents are being visited upon the children. It has often been represented as a monstrous iniquity that things should be put in such a light, but is it not an undeniable fact that the little ones suffer what tbey would not suffer if progenitors always did what was right ? These children were not clamouring for dainties and luxuries. Com and wine, the common food, the pleasant grape-juice, what they had been used to and what all at once they began to miss. What is here said is a strong admonition to us to consider how the innocent and unsuspecting may be affected by our unrighteousness. All our conduct must affect others, and it may affect those who cannot lift a hand to avert ill consequences. The sufferings of children and infants, the immense mortality among them, — these are things awful to contemplate ; and yet nothing can be more certain than that the clearing away of prejudice and igno- rance and hurtful habits founded on bare tradition would bring into child-life that abundance of joy which a loving Creator of human nature meant children to attain. But even with all the suffering there are compensations. These hungurstricken children cried for bread, and getting none they poured out their lives into their mothers' bosoms ; but they had no self-reproach. Bemorse did not add another degree of agonal
OH. n. 1—22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OP JEREMIAH. 31